Distinctions of the Universal Kingdom

Transcript

GRM 1072
2/26/2012
Distinctions of the Universal Kingdom
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


We've been talking about prophetic matters, God's unfolding plan for what lies ahead, what He has revealed in His Word. I want to talk about a matter that is related and really is foundational to everything. We talked most recently about the coming prophesied earthly kingdom. I want to talk about another aspect, if you will, of the kingdom as it is revealed in the Scripture, and that would be the universal kingdom of God. I think we have some information on the kingdom of God and its two aspects. Called the mediatorial kingdom, that's what we've been talking about. This material that we're going to cover comes from Alva J. McLain's book, The Greatness of the Kingdom. He has a chapter in there on the universal kingdom and the points that we'll be covering come out of that chapter, most of the material I'll be presenting. Some of you are familiar with that book. It is the best book.

It focuses primarily on what we call the mediatorial kingdom. I've called it future prophetic. That's more limited than he would do. Mediatorial means it is mediated by an earthly representative. The future messianic kingdom will be executed through the presence of Christ ruling on earth from Jerusalem. There is a historical aspect to that, for example, David ruled as God's representative, ruling over Israel. But even at the time of Israel's greatest kingdom, the greatest dimension of the kingdom, its greatest influence, David and then Solomon especially, it was a rather minor kingdom in the kingdoms of the world. It never was a kingdom that rivaled Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece. Never on that level. So the historical dimension of that is not what we have occupied ourselves with.

So when we talk about the mediatorial kingdom, we're talking about the future kingdom or prophetic kingdom primarily when Jesus Christ will come and rule and reign on the earth. We've looked at some of the characteristics of that kingdom. It will be an earthly kingdom on this physical earth, it will rule over all the earth. As we saw in Daniel 2, it will put an end to all other kingdoms in the sense that it will be the worldwide kingdom and all other nations will be subservient to the kingdom of Christ and His authority over all the earth.

But there is a second aspect to the kingdom of God and that's the universal kingdom which has already existed. And what I want to talk to you about is this universal kingdom. It is distinct from what we talk about with the future earthly kingdom. The future earthly kingdom of Christ is a definite kingdom on the earth. It has not yet happened. It requires the presence of Christ on the earth as the king, ruling on the earth over all people. And that's yet future. But the universal kingdom has always existed, it has existed from the beginning of creation and it will never go out of existence. It is the universal kingdom of God that is always operative, that guarantees and assures that all the prophetic things that we have talked about will come about as we have talked about them, as revealed in Scripture. It is God's sovereign rule over everything in the earth. And it is important for us as God's people to understand and appreciate the universal kingdom of God because it is what gives us our security and confidence, that all that is happening in the world, the good things and the bad things as we would look at it are all included within the plan of God for the accomplishing of His purposes. So what I want to do with you is look at some of the major characteristics of the universal kingdom of God that is operating today and has always operated in the past and will in the future as well.

So the first characteristic of the universal kingdom is this universal kingdom exists without interruption throughout all time. I've listed these here so you can write them down, have them at least fixed in your mind. This kingdom exists without interruption. It has always existed, there has never been a moment in time when it wasn't in operation. Turn to Psalm 145. We're going to be moving around, looking at a number of Scriptures that demonstrate this. Psalm 145:3, you get some preparation for this. Great is the Lord and highly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. We're talking about sometimes you think about God and His greatness, His majesty and it's hard for our finite minds to even conceive of the greatness of God. There's a reason, we're told the greatness of God is unsearchable. That's why in a hundred billion trillion years we will still be learning more of God and will never have yet even have plumbed anywhere near the depths of His greatness.

Down to verse 13, your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, your dominion endures throughout all generations. So you see the universal kingdom exists without interruption throughout all time. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, His dominion endures through all generations. Empires come and go, rulers come and go, people live and die; God's rule is consistent. That is what is unchanging and has been since day 1 of creation. His dominion endures throughout all generations.

Back up to Psalm 29, and the psalmist is showing that God is sovereign over all the events of nature. He starts out by saying, ascribe to the Lord, oh sons of the mighty; ascribe to the Lord glory and strength; ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the majesty or splendor of holiness. He is worthy of worship, all glory and all honor is to be given to Him. Then he goes on to talk about, the voice of the Lord upon the waters, the God of glory thunders. He speaks of this because we talk about the action of nature and Scripture talks about God acting. He is sovereign over it all. And the events of the storm and all that happens in a storm, the consequences, all brought about ultimately by the sovereign power of God. He is the God of glory and strength, He can control nature in all aspects. The animals conceive and just a fact of nature. It's the hand of God. God is not replaced by nature, nature is seen as the hand of God at work.

Then you come down to verse 10, the Lord sat as king at the flood, the flood of Noah. God was enthroned as king, it was His power that brought about the flood in the days of Noah. So the greatest of earthly storms and catastrophes, the hand of God. The Lord sits as king forever. The picture, you go to the past and He was sitting as king; you go to the present, He is king; you go to the future, He is king. So in that sense you have this universal kingdom and as king He has to be exercising authority. And He is. We call it the forces of nature, the biblical writers are comfortable speaking about the hand of God. He did it. We'll talk more about that in a further point.

Come over to Jeremiah 10, still talking about this is a continual kingdom. There are no breaks, no interruptions in it. And that is a blessing and an encouragement to us. Jeremiah 10, it is contrasting the true and living God with the gods that people create in their own minds and with their own hands. Verse 2, thus says the Lord, do not learn the way of the nations, do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them. They look to the heavens, the stars and events and try to divine things, and the signs of the zodiac and all of that. It's silliness, it's ridiculous. The customs of the people are delusion, they are vanity, they are worthless, they are empty. The make a god out of a piece of wood and then they bow down before that God. They craft a god out of wood, stone, precious metal. It's nothing.

They are like, verse 5, a scarecrow in a cucumber field. They cannot speak, they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm nor can they do any good. As he said in verse 3, they are delusion, they are vanity, they are no good for anything. I mean, what good is a God that can't talk or can't walk? What good is a God that is dependent on you? Verse 6, there is none like you, oh Lord. You are great and great is your name in might.

Come down to verse 10, but the Lord is the true God, He is the living God and the everlasting king. He is God, He created it all, He is sovereign ruler over all. It is an everlasting reign. At His wrath the earth quakes, the nations cannot endure His indignation. He is ruling, it is His will, His purposes that are always being accomplished and carried out in the realm of mankind, in the realm of what we would refer to as nature. Verse 12, it is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom. By His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice there is tumult of waters in the heavens. He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth, He makes the lightning for the rain. He is sovereign, He rules in His domain, and His domain includes everything outside the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He reigns over all. We'll see more of that as well.

Come over to Lamentations 5, the lamentations of Jeremiah, just a short little book that records the lamentations of Jeremiah over the terrible devastation and destruction of Jerusalem and Judah at the hands of the Babylonians as God has brought judgment on them. Lamentations 5. As he talks about the terrible devastation that the Babylonians have brought upon the Jews and their wretched condition as part of being conquered and all but destroyed, verse 19, Jeremiah says, you, oh Lord, rule forever. Your throne is from generation to generation. You see God's kingdom has no end. In the midst of his lamenting over the terrible devastation that Babylon, a mighty kingdom with a mighty king, Nebuchadnezzar has brought upon Israel, Jeremiah says, the Lord rules forever. His throne is from generation to generation. It's not like the Babylonians have destroyed what was left of Israel. The northern ten tribes had been destroyed and carried into captivity earlier by the Assyrians. Now the Babylonians have conquered and all but destroyed and carried into captivity what was left of Judah and Benjamin as the southern kingdom. What has happened? God has been dethroned. Israel no longer exists as a kingdom. They still exist as a people but they have no king anymore, they have no kingdom. But God's throne goes from generation to generation. He is ruling even in the midst of this horrible devastating destruction of Israel. Important to see that, there is never a day when God is not reigning over all creation.

All right, so the universal kingdom exists without interruption through all time. The second point, the universal kingdom includes all that exists in space and time. There is nothing outside of God's rule. This becomes an important point. That is why every single act of sin committed is an act directly in rebellion against the One who rules—God. All sin, all disobedience to His will is an offense committed against the ruler of all things. All that exists in time and space, there is nothing outside His reign. Everything in creation, in heaven, on earth, under the earth, everything. Important to grasp this. We were in Jeremiah 10, we won't go back there, but in Jeremiah 10:7, God is called the king of the nations. You see it doesn't matter what power there is. God is king of the nations.

Come to Daniel, we often come to Daniel for an emphasis on this, Daniel 4. Daniel was carried away into captivity by the Babylonians, removed from his family, carried away into Babylon. Strange country in a far away place. There God had a purpose for him. Daniel has influence and is one of the wise men. The king would take even the wisest of those that he had found among captives so he could benefit from their wisdom. And Daniel is a man of God in the place of influence. He is going to tell Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man ruling the most powerful empire that he is about to be driven to insanity by the hand of God for not acknowledging the rule of God.

So Daniel 4:17, this sentence that Nebuchadnezzar is going to spend seven years in insanity. This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers, the decision is a command of the holy ones in order that the living may know. What must all the living know? That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind. You see the extent of God's rule. He rules over the realm of mankind. But Nebuchadnezzar is king of the Babylonians. Haven't they just crushed the Jews? Where was the Jewish God? He was ruling, He was using the Babylonians to bring judgment. So you must recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it upon whom He wishes, a nd sets over it the lowliest of men. The clarity of the Scripture on this leaves no room for doubt. Rulers come and go. Nebuchadnezzar is about to find out, he doesn't rule in Babylon because he had the mightiest army, he was the most brilliant commander. He rules because God said, you will rule. It doesn't matter if you are the most powerful, the most intellectual and so on. Sometimes God puts up the most base of men, it's His sovereignty to accomplish His purposes.

You come down to verse 25 and again the same statement. Nebuchadnezzar is going to be insane for seven years, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it upon whomever He wishes. Verse 26, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is heaven that rules. Heaven, the place of God's presence, He manifests His glory. It makes it heaven. Heaven rules. You come down to verse 32, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. You see His sovereignty.

We need to understand this. People who claim to be Bible-believing Christians go into convulsions over who gets elected or doesn't get elected. Relax. God rules. Yes, but what do you think about who is going to be the next President? I don't know who is going to be the next President, I know who will be ruling next year at this time. The same One who is ruling now, the same One who ruled a hundred years ago, the same One who ruled a thousand years ago, the same One who will be ruling in eternity. Heaven rules. Don't you think . . . What about if this person gets into office, this person takes power. Well, God bestows the kingdom to the world on whomever He wishes. He is sovereign, His will, will be done. He is a king with complete authority and the power to implement His wishes.

After seven years Nebuchadnezzar realized, after crawling around in the grass, eating the grass like an ox would, he got the idea he wasn't so big after all. Amazing thing, after seven years of being out of power, you know how jockeying for power goes, when God is ready to put him back on the throne, he is right back on the throne. But he learned a lesson. Verse 34, at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, my reason returned to me. I blessed the Most High, praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. What an amazing statement from Nebuchadnezzar. His eyes have been opened. It doesn't matter whether you're in heaven, God rules; if you're on earth, God rules. No one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done. No one challenges God. They think they do but He is above question.

So verse 37, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the king of heaven for all His works are true. His way is just and He is able to humble those who walk in pride. All that exists in heaven and on earth, under the earth is under the control of God.

Back in Daniel 2, Daniel again addressing Nebuchadnezzar on a prior occasion. Verse 19, then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said, let the name of God be blessed forever and ever for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things, He knows what is in the darkness. The light dwells with Him. I mean, Daniel goes on, whatever I have, whatever I know, I received from you. You see the sovereign power of God, it includes everything. He changes the times and epochs. I mean, we get powerful rulers who rule in time but they can't change the time, they can't change the ages. God does, He is sovereign over it all. He raises up kings, He puts down kings. Those who are in power are in power by the sovereign determination of the One who is king over all. I mean, we need to understand this as God's people so we're not out blabbering in our ignorance as though because people didn't do this or didn't do that, now we have the wrong person in office and what are we going to do. We're going to recognize God is sovereign. He put that fool in office. I don't have anybody in mind, so don't go out of here and say what I didn't say. But didn't we read in Daniel, He puts in power the basest, the lowliest of men? That's the sovereignty of our God. I don't want to be teaching it on one side and denying it in what I practice, the way I talk, acting like everything depends on if we get control of this election since we get the vote. And in other countries where they are fighting to put their person in power. I mean, everything depends on this. Everything depends on absolutely one thing, that God rules. And that won't change. And He rules with such power that it is always His will that is accomplished.

So His kingdom includes everything in space and time. Psalm 103:19, the Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. His sovereignty rules over all. That's Psalm 103:19. We recognize that. There is no corner of the world that God is not exercising His authority and His control. There is not any place in heaven, there is not any place in hell that He doesn't reign with full authority and exercise absolute control.

Come over to Amos 9:2, though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them. Though they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, Mt. Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there. Though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them. Though they go into captivity . . . You see there is no place you can go to escape the sovereign authority and control of God. The highest part of heaven, the lowest parts of the earth and then on the earth, there is no place to go to hide from God. His authority, His control is exercised over every place and everything. Crucial matter. A great matter of encouragement to us as God' people. Everything is under control. How ridiculous that people should see me as a believer in a dither over what is going on in the world. Doesn't mean they don't recognize there are unsettling things and they will impact us, but I can have a confidence like Jeremiah did. My country has been destroyed, my people have been destroyed. But God rules, He is still king over all.

Come to 1 Chronicles 29. This is one of the clearest statements in all Scripture, and this was stated by David under the inspiration of God as he is giving His last instructions to his son, Solomon, who will replace David on the throne over Israel. Earthly rulers come and go, God's rule is consistent. And he talks about how God has been so gracious and good to Israel and to the house of David. We're going to pick up with verse 10, so David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly and David said, blessed are you, oh Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, oh Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth. Yours is the dominion, oh Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all. You see, I may be passing the authority and the throne on to my son, Solomon, but it is God who rules over all. Everything that is in the heavens and the earth, yours is the dominion. You are head of all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all. And in your hand is power and might. It lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You. We praise your glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You and from Your hand we have given to You. You see the recognition, David has stored up immense wealth to pass on to his son, Solomon, so Solomon could construct the temple. David says, now I am giving you an offering as they make sacrifice here to honor God. But he says, what are we that we should be able to make such a generous offering to you, because you gave us all of this so we could offer it to you. One of the great things about David, here he is at the end of his life, he has kept his perspective. David had failures, but he kept his perspective. I'm not so great, God is great. Any greatness I have has come from God. All the wealth I have, all the blessing, all that I am privileged to give to God as an offering I have received from God. What would I have if God didn't bless me, if God didn't give it to me? You see, he recognized the control of God throughout everything and anyone who has anything, whether it is power, whether it is position or wealth has received it from the God who is sovereign over all.

We mention again and remind you the importance of this truth. The universal kingdom includes all that exists in space and time. I think of this when I see people promoting what God says is sinful. They are openly defying the living God because you see there is no exclusion in this kingdom. And we'll emphasize this again as we come to it later. His kingdom includes everything and everyone.

Third, this universal kingdom, the divine control in the universal kingdom is generally providential. Divine control in the universal kingdom is generally providential. God is king, He has full authority, He has full control and He is exercising it. He usually exercises it providentially. And by that we mean He does it through what we call secondary means. In other words when He brought Israel, bringing them out of Egypt to the Red Sea He didn't just all of a sudden make the Red Sea part and the land was dry. He caused a strong wind to blow. That was a secondary cause. He used the wind to bring about the parting of the waters, the drying of the land. What we call nature is the hand of God at work. That's why when you read biblical writers like we've seen in some of the psalms where we've read with the psalmist writing about the storm. It will talk about God thunders. We say, nature is thundering and we have Mother Nature, whatever Mother Nature is. There used to be a commercial on TV, you shouldn't upset Mother Nature as though when Mother Nature got upset then you might have a storm or trouble. Biblical writers are clear. What do we see? God creates the lightning in the storm, God causes the cedar tree to be shattered by the storm. God makes the waters pour out of the heavens in the storm. We talk about the laws of nature, but you understand there is only one overriding law, and that is God's sovereign operating control. But He usually operates through what we call providential means, so you don't see it and the people of the world don't recognize it.

Come over to Isaiah 10. And Isaiah writes back before the Assyrian captivity of the northern ten nations. We saw Jeremiah who writes later than Isaiah, Jeremiah writes about the Babylonian captivity, Babylon followed Assyria. But Isaiah is writing, anticipating devastating judgment that will come upon the northern ten tribes as well as the rest of Israel to a large extent because of the activity of Assyria. And God will intervene to preserve the southern kingdom, but the impact of what happens and then the carrying away of the northern ten tribes into captivity. Note what he says in verse 5, woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. See what God refers to here, how He talks about Assyria here? Assyria is just a rod in His hand, just a staff that He is using to carry out His indignation. They are a tool. I send it against a godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury, to capture booty, to seize plunder, to trample down like mud in the streets. Yet it does not so intend, nor does it plan so in its heart, but rather its purpose is to destroy and cut off many nations. In other words Assyria doesn't recognize and know that it's a tool in My hand, but that doesn't change reality. The Assyrians thought that they came to power because of their might, their military abilities, their wisdom. They were a cruel, cruel people. They would conquer a city and if the city were resisting, they would capture people and they would take hundreds of people and just impale them on stakes. And outside the city. And it was a testimony to you resist us and your future is bleak. They were a cruel, cruel people. Yet God says they are a staff in My hand, I commission them. They thought they were doing it to gain wealth, to capture spoil. They don't recognize Me, they are just a tool in My hand. And they bring judgment and punishment. That's the whole point.

Down to verse 15, is the ax to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? God's judgment on Assyria is going to be, I raised you up, empowered you to use you as an instrument of judgment, but you didn't acknowledge Me. You acted like you were great. You're just an ax in My hand. You are nothing. What's the ax? It is powerless just lying there until a man picks it up and uses is. What does a saw do? It does nothing unless somebody picks it up and uses it. What are you? You are nothing. You are just a tool, an instrument in My hand. You see how God uses a nation. Here is one of the mightiest nations, it is going to rule the world. God said, you are just a tool in My hand. It's a providential tool. As people looked at what was going on, even the Assyrians ____________________, they thought it was all their doing. They failed to recognize it's the hand of God in it.

Come over to Isaiah 44. Amazing the scope that Isaiah covers. Here he is writing about Assyria, after Assyria we'll have Babylon, after Babylon we'll have Persia. And so now when you get to Isaiah 44, Isaiah is going to be prophesying about Persia. We haven't even gotten to Assyria yet, then we have Babylon and Isaiah will talk about Babylon. All these coming things. Look what verse 28 says, it is I who says of Cyrus, he is My shepherd. He will perform all My desire. Cyrus is going to be king of the Persians a couple hundred years later or so, 200-300 years. What do you mean? He even calls him by name. We have to wait for 300 years for this guy to come on the scene and God speak of Cyrus, My shepherd. No indication in history that Cyrus ever became a believer, but he is My shepherd. He will perform all My desire. I'm going to use him. Just like I used the Assyrians, I'll use the Persians. And not just a Persian general, let Me tell you about Cyrus who will be king of the Persians. Do you see the control of God? What if this pagan Persian family decided to name their son Gilbert? Got that wrong, didn't we. Well, parents make foolish decisions. I said Cyrus. It couldn't be any other way, could it? Who rules? He even picks the name. He's My shepherd, just a tool in My hand.

Down to verse 45, thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand. I love it, we call this the prophetic past where the prophets are prophesying the distant future and they are doing it in the past tense because when God says it is going to happen, it has as much happened as what happened last year. Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, the one that He has anointed to be king to carry out His will. Whom I have taken by the right hand, just like a father takes his young son by the right hand to lead him along. That's what God is doing with Cyrus. Cyrus thought he was a great and powerful king over a mighty nation that brought the Babylonian kingdom to an end. Well, I'm going to use him to subdue nations before him, to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before him, gates will not be shut. I'll go before him, and on and on he goes. You see God working providentially. He didn't just directly intervene to bring about something, He is using a nation, He is using a king, what we call a secondary cause. You don't recognize the world then, the believer doesn't see the hand of God in it. We'll have an election that everybody is fighting over for a leader of our country. Not saying you shouldn't vote, you can, that's fine. But when the results are done we can bow our head and say, thank you, Lord, for your work, that you rule over all, that you determine who will rule and who will not. That will be true whether it's the one we voted on or not, because you understand heaven rules, you don't; heaven rules, we don't. God may use our vote and we may vote one way. Oh no, what is going to happen to our country now? Look who got in. Be careful. Do you know who got in? The one that God put in place. So we want to be careful that we don't deny what we claim to believe by running our mouths without any theology in our heads.

Come to Proverbs 16. While you are going to Proverbs 16, you remember the story of Esther? The story of Esther, the biblical book of Esther is about the providential work of God in preserving His people Israel. We sometimes get in there and question, would Esther do this if she were a godly woman? The point of Esther _____________is to demonstrate God's providential care, how Esther, this Jewish girl, ends up the wife of the ruler of the world, the Persian king. And then you have the account of this king can't sleep one night. Who caused him a sleepless night? And so he calls for the congressional records of the kingdom to be read to him to put him to sleep. But he can't get to sleep and they just happen to start reading in this record of the history of the kingdom something that happened with Mordecai who happens to be the relative of Esther. They had failed to give him recognition for what he had done. And what does it demonstrate? How God providentially preserved His people when an attempt was made to destroy them. You see God using events. He didn't just directly intervene, He moved Esther into a position, Mordecai to a position, moved their influence with the king and Israel is preserved from destruction. The providence of God. Look at Proverbs 16:33, the lot is cast into the lap. The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the Lord.

Let me read you what McLain said on this. It would be hard to think of a simpler event than the fall of a coin which has been carelessly tossed in the air. The outcome can only be one of two clean cut possibilities, yet the material factors which contribute to the end result of such an event are complicated beyond the understanding of the wisest men. And in this complex of causation we as Christians must never forget the unseen finger of God whose touch always brings the final decision in the affairs of the universe.

There is no such thing as chance. Just a little thing like that. You cast the lot into the lap, the decision is from the Lord. Not saying you ought to make your decisions there, I'll flip a coin and if it goes this way, that means that's the Lord's will. But you understand every decision down to the most minute detail is under the control of this sovereign God. The rulers of the world try to control things. We get people in power, they want to implement their agenda and to an extent they can be successful. God controls everything in His kingdom down to the finest detail of how flipping a coin comes out. Any wonder that we read earlier that the greatness of God is unsearchable. How do I come with this puny mind to understand a God like that. Billions of people and all kinds of decisions going on and all kinds of little actions taking place, but you know what? The big decisions, little things happen and all things come out of littler things. God is in sovereign control of it. That is our confidence. How do I know what God has said about the future will happen? Because He is king over all. He has authority over all, but with His authority He has the power to control everything in every detail.

So ____________ providentially, so be careful. We look around, we'll see His hand, He is in control, sometimes good and sometimes bad. A storm comes, a tree falls on our house, we say, what a terrible fate. You just can't control nature, a tree fell on my house. Well, a storm of nature was used by God to cause a tree to fall on my house. Now I'd be sitting there saying, Lord, you could have directed that tree anywhere, in fact my neighbor is a wretched person anyway. He deserves to have a tree on his house, he doesn't even go to Indian Hills. But I can rest secure, that wasn't just an accident of nature. I may not understand all the reasons why, but I know my God is in control. I get a disease, I get an illness, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that kind of food ten years ago. I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful what kinds of food you eat, but I understand God is sovereign. There are no accidents in my life, there is no chance. And we need to realize that and we need to live in light of it. That is our confidence.

Fourth, divine control in the universal kingdom may be exercised at times by supernatural means. In other words, God usually works providentially for secondary means, using what we refer to as nature, using individuals, using nations or whatever. But at times He chooses to intervene directly.

Come to Daniel 6, just this one example. We saw Daniel was carried into captivity in the providence of God, who had raised up the Babylonians and put on the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to select certain men among the Jewish young men captured to be taken and trained to be wise men in Babylon and so on. That was providential. But in Daniel 6, Daniel is to be cast into the lion's den and the expectation is he'll be torn to pieces by these hungry lions. The king had wanted to spare Daniel but he was put in a box and so he ends up casting Daniel into the lion's den. Verse 20, when he had come near the den at the break of day, this was early morning, the king comes to the den. And he cried out with a troubled voice, the king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you constantly serve been able to deliver you from the lions? And the answer is yes, He divinely intervened. He sent an angel to shut the mouth of the lions. God didn't provide a loose stone that Daniel was able to get behind, that would have been providence. Well, yes, I found one of the stones in the wall was loose and it was big enough, I could shift it and climb behind it and the lion couldn't get to me. God could have providentially done something like that, but this was direct supernatural intervention where God just had an angel close the mouth of the lion. That's supernatural.

Look at verse 26. Here is what Darius the king says, I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God and enduring forever. His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius, even to the reign of the man we say in Isaiah 44, Cyrus the Persian. But you see here God can intervene, perform signs and wonders. We see this. You get a disease, an illness. God may use the doctor and the wisdom He has given in medicine. We benefit from that. Something comes up, you get a headache, you go to the doctor and he gives you something and it alleviates the pain. I'm glad we live in the day in which we live, the benefits we have, the wisdom God has given and people pray for you. Lord, deliver them. God may providentially use the wisdom of medical personnel and you may be healed and cured. It will still be the hand of God. You may get some kind of disease and you pray and people pray and you go see the doctor. The doctor says, there is nothing we can do about that. You will probably die here in a rather short time and we're sorry about that. And lo and behold you seem to get better. You go back to the doctor and they say, we can't find any trace of it. That would be direct supernatural intervention. God can operate as He chooses in the kingdom that He rules. And He always operates consistent with His Word, we know that, but He can sometimes directly intervene. So we don't have a God who is powerless to intervene.

Fifth, we just mention it. The universal kingdom always exists efficaciously regardless of the attitude of its subjects. And this just means the rule of God is always effective. This doesn't mean that everyone is subjected to God of their own will. The rulers of the world are the servants of God, the Assyrians were the servants of God doing His will. It doesn't require them to be willing to submit. God pronounces woe on the Assyrians because they didn't acknowledge that it was He giving the power they had. But it was still His power and it is still His will done. God uses even the sinful desires of men to accomplish His purposes. He doesn't cause sin, but He uses the sinful desires of men to accomplish His purposes. So you understand no one is ever outside the reign of God. That's why all sin is an act of rebellion directly against God. I may choose not to obey the laws of this land. I can choose to disobey them, I can think I'm getting away with it. But then someone comes and knocks at my door and I've been found out. But you understand nothing is ever secret from God, nothing is ever hidden from Him. That's why He says He will bring every sin before Him for judgment. We quote Hebrews13, in marriage the bed is undefiled. He intended sexual expression within marriage, but adulterers and fornicators God will judge. Men think because they are going to pass a law and say, now this kind of immoral behavior is acceptable, now it is acceptable because our law says it is. But no, it's not because God's law says it is not.

His rule is always effective. We need to remember that. Daniel could be carried away into captivity into Babylon, no reason for his parents to be wringing their hands and saying, our son that we raised to be such a good son, what's going to happen to him? God's will. We're studying Acts, Paul can be carried away a prison of Rome, what will happen to Paul? Now he's a prisoner of Rome. The will of God. You understand unbelieving people do not operate outside the control of God. So that's what we mean, the universal kingdom always exists efficaciously, effectively, regardless of the attitude of the subjects. That's how complete God's control is. And that's our security because He's not only our king and ruler, He's our heavenly father. And that's why we can rest secure. All things work together for good to those who are called of God. How can He? That drunk driver hit our car and did this. Because He is in control, He is in control, He is in control.

Let' pray together. Thank you, Lord, that you are the sovereign ruler over all. It is your will that is being carried out in heaven and on earth. And Lord, we as your people rejoice at that. We don't always understand every detail, but Lord, we know what we need to know. You are sovereign, you are in control. We may not know the immediate why, but we do know your hand is in control. May that be a blessing in our lives as we serve you today. In Christ's name, amen.